Contentment in aging
by Peter Twitchell Old age is not bad. I’m more content with life, more relaxed, more focused. I regard good health way up there, it’s very important these days to take care of oneself. Paying […]
by Peter Twitchell Old age is not bad. I’m more content with life, more relaxed, more focused. I regard good health way up there, it’s very important these days to take care of oneself. Paying […]
by Peter Twitchell As I’ve grown older and wiser, and closer to the Lord and savior Jesus Christ, our Redeemer of Nazareth, I have learned a few things about my own behavior. When I was […]
by Peter Twitchell Having worked as an alcohol counselor from 1995 to 2016 when I retired, I’m convinced that native substance abuse counselors have advantage over those fresh out of college with degrees. Degrees are […]
by Peter Twitchell Growing old has not been a drag but I found that I appreciate more of life much more and like they say, every day we’re above ground is a good day. It […]
by Peter Twitchell I’ve always had this good feeling all my life about belonging – starting at home in the community in the region of Bethel, Alaska – I was a Yupiaq Eskimo. As a […]
by Peter Twitchell I am a member of an Elders Group who gathers together once a month to discuss issues relevant to support each other and explore affordable housing and services which would also be valuable […]
by Peter Twitchell First order of business is I wish everyone in the Yukon Kuskokwim Delta a very Happy New Year. In my lifetime I’ve loved many things and many people. First, I love my […]
by Peter Twitchell Christmas in the 1950s was simple. You got the dog teamed up to pull a sled and you mushed through five feet or more of snow and powder snow to look for […]
by Peter Twitchell It is my hope that our kids and grandchildren will begin talking with Elders. We as Elders now are able to tell our stories and time is limited for many of our […]
by Peter Twitchell My relative Lillian Lliabon of Akiak, Alaska told me a story about Two Good Shaman in the Yupiaq culture who helped members of their tribe with their powers. She also told me […]
by Peter Twitchell I received a piece of mail today with a statement in front. It read: “Who is your Rock?” I wrote beside it, “The Almighty God, The Creator of Heaven and Earth, My Lord […]
by Peter Twitchell When I was growing up in the 1950s us kids always listened to what our Elders and especially moms, dads, grandmas, grandpas who were teaching us to love, respect, and be kind […]
by Peter Twitchell It is no secret when I left Bethel October 30, 2016 it was mainly to leave the high cost of living in real Alaska for a chance to live a better life […]
by Peter Twitchell I’m thinking back in time to 1954 when Mom brought me to the log cabin building – the school in downtown Bethel which was located next to the Cowan Hut, across the […]
by Peter Twitchell Everybody feels down in the dumps at some point in their lives, bummed out, discouraged, gloomy, and miserable. This is a normal human reaction when you lose your job, lose a friend, […]
by Peter Twitchell Elder Adam Kawagley of Akiak used to bring the subject up of “Wars and Rumors of Wars.” As we know a rumor is not always proven to be a fact or genuinely […]
by Peter Twitchell Since I was a boy growing up in Bethel, my favorite person way beyond my age range was Sonny Hoffman. Every time he saw me with my Dad or walking the streets […]
by Peter Twitchell The Ancients of our Yupiaq Tribe made the ancient laws. Our Ancients and Ancestors of our Yupiaq Tribe made accurate predictions of what was to come in the future. They had a […]
by Peter Twitchell How does one person maximize their life? I’ll share how our Yupiaq Ancestors maximized their lives and their existence as Tribal members. They took to heart and practiced the laws set forth […]
by Peter Twitchell Long before I came into the world how were people of Southwest Alaska, the Yupiaq? We’re blessed with the beautiful tundra that provided berries, our sloughs and rivers, we’re full of fish […]
by Peter Twitchell 1971 was an exciting time for the Yukon-Kuskokwim Region because a group of men; Ap’a Ted Stevens, our brother George Hohman, and our Chief and Leader Edward Hoffman; pushed to acquire approval […]
by Peter Twitchell I have a tidbit, a small morsel that I’m thinking about and would like to share with you. Siberian rivers in Russian flow north, Alaska’s rivers flow west and south. Today, I’ve been […]
by Peter Twitchell We had stable food. All Alaskan Natives that had access to the sea and its tributaries. Seals and the walruses were our natural foods that gave us strength and longevity. We looked […]
by Peter Twitchell I want to share my miracle today, and what a day it was after feeling the absence of the privilege of sharing in the joy of my children. I got into Facebook to […]
by Peter Twitchell I remember a trip I made to Mountain Village in the not too distant past. The village was located high on the side of a hill on the lower Yukon River. I will […]
by Peter Twitchell One of the greatest tragedies in life is forgetting our culture and our people, and all that we remember hearing them talk about – how our people survived in a place where […]
by Peter Twitchell I believe all us kids when we were 5, 6, 7 years old did as we were told in the morning by our mother – to swallow a teaspoon full of cod liver […]
by Peter Twitchell When I look back in my life I took so many chances in the dead of winter driving down to Johnson River to fish for pike when it was snowing and blizzarding […]
by Peter Twitchell Our friends are irreplaceable! As an Elder I feel this more and more as people move on to the spirit world. Most of my friends and I shared common interests like music, […]
by Peter Twitchell The year was 2010, December 25 when I cried my eyes out in my little house on Watson’s Corner. I thought about this, in my 50 years back then, that I had […]
by Tad Lincoln Her name was Helen Bautista, a true friend to the mentally disabled and the high school kids in Bethel from 1967 to 1970. Mom Bautista gave us high school kids the back […]
by Peter Twitchell When I was in my late 20s, I always looked forward to hunting with my late first cousins, Joe Woods Jr. and Manny Joe Evon. We hunted moose every fall. One moose […]
by Peter Twitchell I remember as a boy in the 1950s Independence Day Fourth of July celebrations in Bethel were spectacular and always fun to attend, they were a lot of games and a lot of […]
by Peter Twitchell Today is a brand new day and we have a lot to be thankful for when I think about it. I thank The Almighty Creator God for helping our scientists in the […]
by Peter Twitchell Today is my day, “Father’s Day.” June 18, in the year of our Lord and Father in Heaven, 2023. As a dad I am reminded of the day and year of my […]
by Peter Twitchell When we’re out in the wilderness camping, hunting, berry picking let’s all take extra precautions to avoid having a wildfire. It’s summer and it gets hot and dry grass and the trees […]
by Peter Twitchell Kids like me grew up in Bethel Alaska – a quiet little town. Throughout the 1950’s we observed many local activities going on around our community. We knew nothing about television or […]
by Peter Twitchell A friend and I saw a man sitting on the ground at the corner of a drive-through in what it looked like a prayer position. People often sit at that location with their […]
by Peter Twitchell I believe as a Yupiaq Tribe we really need to start working together to get health aides in all of our villages on the coast, Kuskokwim river, in the Yukon River villages. […]
by Peter Twitchell I’ve never said publicly how proud I am of my two sons David and Danny and my daughters Saranne and Suzi and all their accomplishments at their young ages. They have worked […]
by Peter Twitchell In my boyhood back in the 1950s I was very fortunate to hear the stories of the ancient Yupiat of long ago from hundreds of years ago. Mom and I lived at […]
by Peter Twitchell When I was a teenager through my 50s I didn’t know of physical pain. For one thing I was tireless and for 50 years I worked 3 to 4 jobs in a […]
by Peter Twitchell It is a fact and unfortunate set of circumstances that the older we get we lose our loved ones to old age and our friends that we grew up with to sickness […]
by Peter Twitchell Life as we all know is stressful even at home. We could be without a job but helping family anyway, we can be doing things for family who come first in our […]
by Peter Twitchell Our grandma Hannah Pitka used to tell us kids when we were about seven years old on up, and this included me and my first cousin Joe Woods Jr., not to get […]
by Peter Twitchell This is a question I ask Moose Hunters: Have you ever butchered a moose with a pocket knife with a blade no longer than 2 inches? WHAT? The response I usually get. […]
by Peter Twitchell Our lives from childhood to adolescence have depended largely on our parents, and other mature adults including our beloved Elders and our teachers who were there for us sixteen years of their […]
by Peter Twitchell The television networks, have been showing law judges trying cases on television that millions of people watch each day. Judges on television hear cases every day about personal injuries, and other legal […]
by Peter Twitchell As I advance in elderhood I look at the world with open eyes savoring each moment and everything has greater meaning for me. One such event is the 1000 mile longest sled […]
by Peter Twitchell I saw a newscast just the other day on KTUU Channel 2 Anchorage where my relative Mr. Michael Williams of Akiak testified that he had caught two (2) Chum Salmon last summer […]
by Peter Twitchell In my life I am fortunate to reflect back and look into the mirror to witness gospel songs, country and western songs, rock songs, and songs of my own composing and all […]
by Peter Twitchell I had an amazing dream that I was at my fishcamp across from Bethel and the whole Kuskokwim River went completely dry – the entire Kuskokwim a river emptied itself dry just […]
by Peter Twitchell Alaskan Native Elders Group of which I am a member meets every month at the Native Valley Clinic upstairs second floor and you’re always invited to join us for lunch and discuss […]
by Peter Twitchell Looking back to my youth I remember my Dad making a snow angel on the ice at the sandbar above our fish camp and property across the river from Bethel. It was […]
by Peter Twitchell When I was a boy of 12 years old I became aware of Chief Edward Hoffman. And whenever I ran into Edward Hoffman outside Northern Commercial Company store or the Alaska Commercial […]
by Peter Twitchell I was so busy being an adult not a Kidult. I haven’t been making paper airplanes anymore for the last 50 years. The last time I made a paper airplane was when […]
by Peter Twitchell As I am writing this article, I am sitting here on the late Elder Joseph “Joe” Jefferson Vanderpool’s favorite chair. Joe became like a lifelong friend to me back in 2019 when […]
by Peter Twitchell When I began working at KYUK Radio May 21, 1971 I never thought that I ever would get into radio broadcasting as a line of work and making a living. I put […]
by Peter Twitchell I never knew growing up that I would be called to be an alcohol counselor. I became a substance-abuse counselor in 1995 working at the Phillips Alcohol Treatment Center in Bethel, Alaska. […]
by Peter Twitchell When I left my home in Bethel I knew I would miss our subsistence way of living and the people of southwest Alaska and the Yukon. I will never forget the land, […]
by Peter Twitchell Worldwide we as a human race have had our share of turmoil and anxiety with viruses, storms, wars, and anger. December is the time of peace and joy when families, tribes, and […]
by Peter Twitchell Our way of life as we knew it has changed drastically in the last few decades. The teachings of our ancestors the ancients, the elders is being forgotten and not practiced anymore […]
by Peter Twitchell Seven years ago this month on the morning of November 03, 2015, we lost our beloved Kilbuck School. It went up in a huge fiery billow of smoke and ash. It was […]
by Peter Twitchell In 1965 when my dad David died in an accident, I was 15 years old, the only thing I had besides Mom and my brother Tony was the Sears and Roebuck portable […]
by Peter Twitchell Today I would like to talk about how I got interested in music. It’s not a long story. I grew up as a boy infant. I remember being bundled up in a […]
by Peter Twitchell Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ of Nazareth I believe has a purpose for each and every one of us who are still able. I know Almighty Creator God plays an important […]
by Peter Twitchell There are countless humorous stories from the early days. One story involves the Sears Roebuck catalog. Here is as I heard it. I was told by an Elder on the southwest coast […]
by Peter Twitchell Today I want to focus on original Bethel families who made up Bethel at where it was, the permanent residents when the village of Bethel was simply known as “Gathering place of […]
by Peter Twitchell My first cousin Mary Evon told me when I was a teenager that all my cousins were my brothers and sisters. I began looking at Mary as a leader, an Elder who […]
by Peter Twitchell Through the years since May 1971 KYUK has had great announcers – people like Levi Lott. He was one of the first announcers, he was from Tuluksak knowing the traditional language of […]
by Peter Twitchell I try my best to live in the present, in the moment because that’s all I have in my life – this moment to breathe fresh air, to feel the sun’s warmth on […]
by Peter Twitchell Life gets interesting as I age. First, I’ll admit time flew by from my youth to my retirement age. I have to admit again that it seems like it’s slowed down to […]
by Peter Twitchell It just dawned on me on this day 9/11/2001 between 9:30 and 10 o’clock I was camped across from the Aniak gravel bar watching two American jet fighters behind the Korean Airlines […]
by Peter Twitchell My Dad David Twitchell was raised by the Joe Williams Family at Akiak, Alaska. A few days after my dad was born in 1924 his mother passed on to the spirit world […]
by Peter Twitchell Today I am grateful to be 72 years of age only by the grace of Almighty Creator God am I able to share this with you. It’s like I told my healthcare […]
by Peter Twitchell When I was a boy about 13 my mom made a profound statement that I never forgot. As a matter of fact, she brought this up twice to me into my teens […]
by Peter Twitchell Each one of us are given gifts that help us to grow in the body of Christ. In Ephesians 4:16 Christ Jesus is the head of the church. As followers of Christ […]
by Peter Twitchell I returned to Bethel over the last couple days to clear out my Bethel storage. It didn’t make any sense to live in the Matanuska Valley and have storage in Bethel. It […]
by Peter Twitchell I didn’t want to watch the news after the multiple shootings and needless mass killings across our country in the last three years, it’s been a really sad state of our country now […]
by Peter Twitchell I can share that I have been in church gatherings since infancy. Mom always bundled me up and brought me to worship services in church for the family of God gatherings, to […]
by Peter Twitchell I had no clue that some Yup’ik words had their origins from the Natives from Russia. Words like milk (mulukuuq), miiskaq (large bowl for making Eskimo Ice Cream or, “Akutaq”), tengmiaq (goose), […]
by Peter Twitchell All our Elders are going home, now we are the Elders. Yes – baby boomers. It was wonderful to grow up from kids to adults being fed a daily diet of words […]
by Peter Twitchell This is Peter Twitchell, lifelong citizen of Bethel. My family settled and lived in Bethel Alaska since time immemorial. I for one, although I live far from the city limits of Bethel, […]
by Peter Twitchell Who is teaching our kids about our sacred Tundra land, air, and sea? We the people are the stewards of this land to take care of it as we would an infant […]
by Peter Twitchell My next article is a continuation of what I brought up not too long ago. A lifelong friend of mine and I openly discussed the homeless situation in Bethel because he has […]
by Peter Twitchell I want to write a little story about village of Akiak in 1962. When I was 11 years old in ‘61 dad David Adams Twitchell took me up to the village of […]
by Peter Twitchell There was an interesting question posed to two contestants on the Family Feud show today. Host Steve Harvey asked each member of the family this question: “What makes you suspect that your […]
by Peter Twitchell When I was growing up across the river from Bethel it was also our fish campsite where mom and dad made the best fish salmon slabs and strips. The fish was always […]
by Peter Twitchell I heard someone make the statement that “alcohol does not let people get violent.” I myself would never make such a statement. I couldn’t because I believe alcohol fuels our negative emotions […]
by Peter Twitchell Live and learn! Until today I didn’t know plants needed food! Growing up I never gave this a second thought! I guess I never looked deep enough into the soil so to […]
by Peter Twitchell I am amazed about talk shows on TV, especially since the pandemic started in 2020. Many of them are of a personal nature, such as people who don’t have an idea whose […]
by Peter Twitchell Recently I was at a grocery chain store here in Wasilla. Upon checking out I searched my pockets, my card clasp, and my wallet for the discount card. My total purchases were […]
by Peter Twitchell I learn something new every day and that’s a good thing and the fact is that we all do. How has it been all these many years that I thought Merrill Field […]
by Peter A. Twitchell I was brought up from a baby in the 1950s. Already, our Yupiaq people like my Grandma Hannah Pitka, my Mom Sarah, her sister Annie Nansen, Mary Kohl, and Mollia Woods […]
by Peter Twitchell I would like to talk about growing up in Bethel, Alaska and one man in particular. That was our tribal chief Edward Hoffman who never neglected us boys. The moment we ran […]
by Peter Twitchell I believe single mothers and fathers deserve recognition because they are so strong for whatever reason. There are men and women both who have children in their custody and they choose to […]
by Peter Twitchell So long to Alaska’s Representative and friend, Don Young. I’ve always felt he was our representative and friend in Congress for fighting for the best interests of Alaskans and his State. I […]
by Peter Twitchell Mom, Dad, and Grandma Hannah had a favorite salmonberry picking spot back in the 1950s when I was growing up. The area sits below Tuntutuliak on the Kuskokwim right side of the […]
by Peter Twitchell I had my post-op for my hernia surgery today February 24, 2022 at the Alaska Native Medical Center hospital. I ran into an old friend who asked me how I’ve been. I […]
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